Can treating apparatus

ABSTRACT

The application discloses an apparatus in which newly manufactured empty cans are prepared for filling with foodstuffs or beverages. The cans are sequentially washed, rinsed, treated, again rinsed, and finally dried, and if desired, subsequently coated and cured. The cans are individually transported through the apparatus by means of carriers which move them in a spiral path, while they are loosely retained in said carriers. A series of spray nozzles discharge against the cylindrical surfaces of the can. Another series of spray nozzles discharge upwardly into the interior of the can body to treat the inner surfaces thereof, and to slightly lift the can bodies so they are free to rotate by virtue of contact with a rail member while being advanced at right angles to their axes.

United States Patent 1 Stolle et al.

[ CAN TREATING APPARATUS [75] Inventors: Ralph J Stolle, Lebanon; Richard J.

Hasselbeck, Houston; Elton G. Kaminski, Sidney, all of Ohio [73] Assignee: The Stolle Corporation, Sidney,

Ohio

[22] Filed: July 13, 1973 [21] App]. No.: 379,096

[52] US. Cl 118/62, 118/73, 118/324, 134/124, 134/152 [51] Int. Cl. BOSc 11/06 [58] Field of Search 118/62, 73, 300, 313, 315, 118/324, 500; 134/124, 152, 166 R Primary Examiner-Mervin Stein Assistant ExaminerDouglas A. Salser Attorney, Agent, or FirmMelville, Strasser, Foster & Hoffman [57] ABSTRACT The application discloses an apparatus in which newly manufactured empty cans are prepared for filling with foodstuffs or beverages. The cans are sequentially washed, rinsed, treated, again rinsed, and finally dried, and if desired, subsequently coated and cured. The cans are individually transported through the apparatus by means of carriers which move them in a spiral path, while they are loosely retained in said carriers. A series of spray nozzles discharge against the cylindrical surfaces of the can. Another series of spray nozzles discharge upwardly into the interior of the can body to treat the inner surfaces thereof,'and to slightly lift the can bodies so they are free to rotate by virtue of contact with a rail member while being advanced at right angles to their axes.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEQ Law 11814 3'. 854.445

SHEET 1 or 3 IEEI 71974 PATENTEL SHEEI 2 OF 3 PATENTEL, LEE] 71974 sum 3 or 3 CAN TREATING APPARATUS CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present invention is related to, and is a modification of the invention disclosed in the copending application in the name of Ralph J. Stolle, Ser. No. 276,393 filed July 31, l972, now US. Pat. No. 3,774,l82.

It has now been found that the exhaust system of the copending application may be eliminated; and the spaced positions of the cans in the carriers, and the avoidance of vortices and buff bodies may be accomplished more simply.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION When newly formed cans come off the production line, they are open-ended so that they may be filled, after which a can end is applied to the open end and sealed thereto. Before such cans can be filled, they must be thoroughly cleaned and coated to remove contaminants resulting from the manufacturing operations. Thorough cleaning has always presented a problem; and probably the best solution hitherto has been the apparatus disclosed and claimed in the Stolle and Kaminski U.S. Pat. No. 3,353,515 issued-Nov. 2-1, 1967. The machine of said patent did a commendable job in treating cans; but it was quite large and therefore took up a great deal of floor space, and it was quite expensive in relation to the number of cans treated per minute.

The present invention provides a substantially smaller machine, which is also much less expensive, but which gives all the advantageous results of the patented apparatus for a greater number of cans per minute.

Basically, the apparatus comprises a spiral tube or enclosure through which the cans to be treated pass. In this context the term spiral is intended to encompass a series of straight legs at an angle to the horizontal, as well as a true spiral. An endless cable is arranged to travel through the said spiral tube, and a number of can carriers are secured to the cable. The cans are transported through the apparatus by said carriers, past a series of spray nozzles which, in some sections of the apparatus spray a washing medium, in others rinse water, in others a treating or coating substance, and in others hot air.

Each carrier is generally a half-cylinder, of an inside diameter substantially larger than that of the cans to be treated, so as to provide for the passage of the treat ment fluid around both sides of the can. A drain opening is provided substantially at the center of the semicylindrical carrier to allow a portion of the fluid to escape directly through the carrier in order to enhance the flow of treatment fluid around the can. Protuberances are provided so that a uniform clearance is maintained between the can and the carrier. In this way, thorough and uniform treatment is provided.

The uniformity of the treatment is enhanced by the series of spray nozzles which are arranged to spray treatment fluid on the inside of the cans. By virtue of the looseness with which the cans are retained in the carriers, the inside jets lift the cans up against a rail. Since the carriers are moving along past the rail, and the cans are in contact with the rail, they are rotated so that extremely uniform results are attained.

In an exemplary embodiment the spiral path has 2% turns, with one turn constituting the wash cycle, about half of the second turn constituting a rinse cycle, the

other half constituting a treatment cycle, part of the final half turn being another rinse cycle, and the last section being the drying cycle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING DETAILED DESCRIPTION The principal problem in an apparatus for treating cans is to insure a uniform and complete exposure of all surfaces of the can to the treating fluid. By way of introduction, reference is made to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 illustrates diagrammatically the novel approach of the present invention which will permit the achievement of the desired results. In this plan view, the can 1 is contained within a moving carrier 2. The moving carrier moves the can past a spray head 3. It will be observed that the carrier 2 has clearance around the can body maintained by protuberances 4, and a rear fluid exit at 5. In this situation the spray from the nozzle 3 provides a pattern of fluid flow around both,

sides of the can. The protuberances 4 will maintain the can in a balanced condition centrally of the carrier 2 and permit the movement of the fluid to flow around the can and to the drain opening 5 as indicated by the arrows. Drain opening 5 allows the treating materials to drain away to prevent their entrapment behind the can. Entrapment of these materials behind the can might stop any flow around the centralized can condition.

FIG. 2 diagrammatically shows an elevational view of the spray heads 6, 6a, and 6b to the carrier 2 and the can 1 being transported thereby. The spray head 6a is directed upwardly toward the open bottom of the can so as to treat the inside thereof by spraying upwardly into the interior. The spray from the nozzle 6a offsets the container weight and the pressure of spray head 6b, and lifts the can away from the bottom of the carrier until the top and forward edge of the can comes in contact with a rail 7. As the can 1 is raised from the carrier into abutment with the rail 7, and with the carrier moving along the rail, the can is caused to rotate. The contact with the can is minimal, being substantially point contact, and light in pressure, and the can is subjected inside and outside over all its surfaces to the action of the sprays 6, 6a, and 6b.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the general arrangement of a can treating apparatus according to the invention. The arrangement is preferably spiral in the sense that in the preferred embodiment the spiral comprises longitudinal flights connected by transverse flights, all at an angle to the horizontal. The spiral path is defined by a cable 8 which travels within a housing 9, with the cable passing at each comer of the device around a series of pulleys, all indicated generally at 18. The cable returns as indicated by the broken line 8a in FIG. 3. The cans l are fed into the carriers by any suitable can feeding mechanism (not shown) and enter the bottom of the conveyor as indicated by the can 1a in FIG. 3. At the top of the conveyor the cans l are discharged for further processing and the endless cable returns as indicated by the line 8a to the bottom flight. A suitable drive for the pulley system is provided as indicated at 10.

It will be understood that the spray heads or nozzles disposed within the casing 9 may be used for projecting any desired fluid such as a detergent solution, rinse water, acid treating solution, protective coating, or hot air for drying or curing. Preferably the first complete turn of the spiral will be a wash cycle in which a washing medium is sprayed, the first half of the second convolution will be a rinse cycle where rinse water is sprayed, the second half of the second spiral will preferably be an acid treatment cycle wherein an acid is sprayed, and in the final convolution the first half may again be a rinse cycle and the second half a drying or curing cycle.

Referring to FIG. 5, the cable 8 is shown as passing through a tube 9. A carrier is shown at 2 with a can shown at 1. The portion of the housing or tube 9 generally indicated at l 1 is the treating chamber and the portion indicated generally at 12 is the exhaust chamber. Treatment fluid is fed to the nozzles 6, 6a, and 6b through conduits 13, 13a, and 13b, and, as described above, the inside and outside of the cans are completely treated by the fluid, some of which then passes out through the drain openings into the drain section 12. The drain section 12 is in effect a portion of housing 9, and the fluid discharges into the section 12 as indicated by the arrows. The cans initially rest on the ledges 2a of the carrier. They are initially kept from falling out of the carrier 2 by the point contact members 14a and 14b. The spray from the nozzles 6a lifts the cans up against the rail 7 which engages the top front edge of the can. It will be clear that since the can has been lifted off the ledges 2a, and as the cable 8 is moving the carrier through the chamber 9, the top front edge of the can being in contact with the rail 7, the can will be caused to rotate as it is being translated, so that all surfaces of the can, both inside and out are completely and thoroughly treated.

It will be clear that numerous modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and that no limitation not expressly set forth in the claims is intended or should be implied.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A can treating apparatus comprising a tube, an endless cable arranged to travel through said tube, a plurality of can carriers fixed to said cable to be transported through said tube thereby, the portion of the tube on the carrier side of said cable constituting a treatment chamber; a first series of nozzles arranged to project the fluid against the outside of the walls of cans being transported by said carrier, a second series of nozzles arranged to project the fluid downwardly onto the tops of the said cans, and a third series of nozzles arranged to project the fluid upwardly into the insides of said cans, the force of the projection of fluid upwardly from said third series of nozzles being sufficient to overbalance the projection from said second series of nozzles and the weight of the can; the portion of the tube on the other side of said cable constituting a drain manifold for said fluid; said carriers being in the form of half cylinders of a diameter providing a clearance around the outside of the cans being treated, and having a drain opening substantially centrally thereof communicating with said drain manifold, and having a plurality of protuberances on their inside surface to maintain the axial position of the cans in the carriers to insure said clearance; whereby flow of fluid around both sides of each can results in complete and uniform treat ment of the entire surface of each can.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a rail is secured on the inside of said treatment chamber at an elevation above the tops of the cans seated on said carriers, and adapted to contact the tops, and the forward edges of the tops of the cans when they are lifted off said carriers by the action of the projection from said third series of nozzles, whereby, as said cans are transported through said treatment chambers, they are caused to rotate, exposing the entire surface of each can to the action of said fluid.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said tube is spirally arranged.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, whereinsaid spirally arranged tube is constituted by a series of straight flights connected by curved portions, so as to provide a rectangular configuration as viewed in plan.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said spirally arranged tube makes about 2 /2 turns, the nozzles at about the first turn being arranged to project a spray of washing medium, the nozzles at about one-half of the second turn being arranged to project a spray of rinse water, the nozzles at about the second half of the second turn being arranged to project a spray of a treatment fluid, the nozzles at the first part of the last half turn being arranged to project a spray of rinse water. and the nozzles in the final part of the last half turn being arranged to project a blast of hot air.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said treatment fluid is a protective coating, and the final part of the spiral constitutes a curing area. 

1. A can treating apparatus comprising a tube, an endless cable arranged to travel through said tube, a plurality of can carriers fixed to said cable to be transported through said tube thereby, the portion of the tube on the carrier side of said cable constituting a treatment chamber; a first series of nozzles arranged to project the fluid against the outside of the walls of cans being transported by said carrier, a second series of nozzles arranged to project the fluid downwardly onto the tops of the said cans, and a third series of nozzles arranged to project the fluid upwardly into the insides of said cans, the force of the projection of fluid upwardly from said third series of nozzles being sufficient to overbalance the projection from said second series of nozzles and the weight of the can; the portion of the tube on the other side of said cable constituting a drain manifold for said fluid; said carriers being in the form of half cylinders of a diameter providing a clearance around the outside of the cans being treated, and having a drain opening substantially centrally thereof communicating with said drain manifold, and having a plurality of Protuberances on their inside surface to maintain the axial position of the cans in the carriers to insure said clearance; whereby flow of fluid around both sides of each can results in complete and uniform treatment of the entire surface of each can.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a rail is secured on the inside of said treatment chamber at an elevation above the tops of the cans seated on said carriers, and adapted to contact the tops, and the forward edges of the tops of the cans when they are lifted off said carriers by the action of the projection from said third series of nozzles, whereby, as said cans are transported through said treatment chambers, they are caused to rotate, exposing the entire surface of each can to the action of said fluid.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said tube is spirally arranged.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said spirally arranged tube is constituted by a series of straight flights connected by curved portions, so as to provide a rectangular configuration as viewed in plan.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said spirally arranged tube makes about 2 1/2 turns, the nozzles at about the first turn being arranged to project a spray of washing medium, the nozzles at about one-half of the second turn being arranged to project a spray of rinse water, the nozzles at about the second half of the second turn being arranged to project a spray of a treatment fluid, the nozzles at the first part of the last half turn being arranged to project a spray of rinse water, and the nozzles in the final part of the last half turn being arranged to project a blast of hot air.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said treatment fluid is a protective coating, and the final part of the spiral constitutes a curing area. 